Sleep Innovations Case Study: Feedback from Hard-to-Reach Respondents

Sleep Innovations® wanted to obtain more information from prior purchasers, as well as, those that intend to purchase sleep products to gather feedback about packaging, attitude and usage, as well as, new product screening.

About Sleep Innovations®

Sleep Innovations® offers the most advanced mattresses, mattress toppers, pillows and specialty sleep products available in the market. Every product made by Sleep Innovations® is clinically tested to show that it measurably improves the way you sleep so you wake up feeling rejuvenated. In addition to its own products, Sleep Innovations® manufactures products for other brands.

The Challenge

Obtaining feedback from hard-to-reach respondents on an ongoing basis to brainstorm new products, learn about attitude and usage, and uncover new insights.

Engaging with purchasers of a specific sleep product can prove to be challenging if executed in an ad hoc environment, so having purchasers, and purchase intenders pre-identified for online surveys is critical and reduces the time and expense involved in recruitment. Sleep Innovations® manufactures products for other brands, and needed to help clients gather insight from customers.

Toluna Difference – The Solution

Engaging with and listening to pre-identified, purchasers and purchase intenders on an ongoing basis by providing an online web community - 'Sleep Talkers.’

Sleep Innovations® chose to work with Toluna and create the ‘Sleep Talkers’ panel community of 2,000+ members. Members have purchased, or intend to purchase sleep products in the next 12 months, and say ‘a good night’s sleep is a priority.’

Toluna’s PanelPortal™ branded community was suggested as a means of engaging with members and eliciting feedback. The ‘Sleep Talkers’ were encouraged to take photos and visuals of their sleep experiences, post to discussion boards, and participate in more traditional studies;

Concept testing among shoppers of a specific outlet – Monadic exposure to test concepts for purchase within select retail outlets.

New product screening and optimization – Continually screen new product concepts to prioritize development efforts.

Product names and benefits optimization – Use the community to brainstorm new names, and feature ideas.

Sleep Innovations® has expanded its planned research program, and done so by creating easy-to-use ‘package testing’ survey templates that not only streamline the research process, bur provide consistent comparable results over time, with a database that is capable of tracking progress over time.

The Results

As the company expanded its research program to conduct more studies, overall research costs have decreased by more than $300,000. That was coupled with a savings of more than $25,000 in technology savings. Further, ‘Sleep Talker’ member engagement is significantly increased and response rates exceed 85%. High rates of member engagement decrease recruitment and incentive costs.

In addition to achieving savings, Sleep Innovations® undertook projects that were very important to the company. In one specific example, Sleep Innovations® client noticed that a brand of mattress was not selling within a specific retail environment (but was elsewhere). Sleep Innovations® was able to quickly design a survey for shoppers of this retail store, and ask about brand perception, price, and more.

Respondents indicated that the price point charged was inconsistent with branding. The brand was perceived to be of higher value, and prices were not reflecting this brand positioning. Pricing was ultimately raised, and more sales resulted. Truly a win-win for Sleep Innovations® and for the end client involved.

Step-by-Step

Sleep Innovations® undertook a step-by-step approach to the creation of their research program and kept the following objectives in mind.

Gathering topics from internal clients and external customers

Prioritizing the research activities to prevent panel fatigue and redundancy

It’s one of the most recognisable of humanity’s universal archetypes – and occupies an emotional space that many brands aspire to. But taking on the Hero role requires a very different approach depend...

This special two-part recording will bring you up to speed on the current trends in market research, what’s driving change, and how suppliers and clients are adapting. A panel of experts discusses the...
Toluna Launches PanelPortalLight